World News

EU Bailout Tax Sparks Bank Run In Cyprus

10:08am March 19, 2013

Citizens of Cyprus did not react well to the news that their government wants to allow the European Union to take nearly 10 percent of their savings deposits in exchange for a $13 billion bailout. Banks are closed through Tuesday after worries over bank runs. Depositors stood in long lines to withdraw money over the weekend.

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Three Decades On, Ex-Guatemalan Leader Faces Genocide Charges

9:44pm March 18, 2013

by Carrie Kahn

Former military ruler Efrain Rios Montt, now 86, presided over one of the bloodiest periods in Guatemala's 36-year civil war. During his rule, thousands of Guatemala's Indians were killed.

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Confidence In Cyprus Banks Falters As Government Proposes Deposit Tax

5:54pm March 18, 2013

by Jim Zarroli

Cyprus is facing a run on its banks after the government proposed taxing bank deposits. The government has put off a vote on the plan in a bid to calm things down. Banks are set to re-open on Thursday after a bank holiday was declared on Monday.

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An Afghan laborer works in a firewood yard at a market in Herat on Dec. 11, 2011.

Afghanistan's Forests A Casualty Of Timber Smuggling

2:34pm March 18, 2013

Over the past three decades, the U.N. says Afghanistan's forest cover has decreased by about 50 percent — to just about 2 percent of the country's land. The main reason is the illegal harvesting and trade of timber. A visit to Kunar province, near the Pakistan border, reveals that many people, from top officials down, are involved.

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A Decade Later, What Was Accomplished In Iraq

2:16pm March 18, 2013

In March 2003, U.S. troops crossed from Kuwait into Iraq with the goal of toppling dictator Saddam Hussein. Within weeks, the Hussein regime had fallen. The occupation that followed left U.S. combat forces in the country until December 2011. The legacy of the war is still widely debated.

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The Iraq War: 10 Years Later, Where Do We Stand?

10:32am March 17, 2013

by NPR Staff

The war has cost thousands of lives and trillions of dollars, and there are many who will live with its legacy forever. Now, as it tries to stabilize without U.S. combat troops, the conflict in neighboring Syria could threaten its security.

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Reading The Tea Leaves Of Obama's Mideast Trip

9:57am March 17, 2013

President Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas when he travels to the Middle East next week. Host Scott Simon talks with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic and Bloomberg View about the president's upcoming trip.

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Dr. Hamad Suleiman Daher, shown here with his youngest daughter, was the first person to receive a kidney transplant in Gaza.

Can Kidney Transplants Ease Strain On Gaza's Health System?

9:54am March 17, 2013

by Larry Abramson

Years of war have overtaxed Gaza's hospitals, making it tough for kidney patients to get good treatment. Thanks to help from British doctors, Gaza surgeons are now being trained to perform kidney transplants. They hope to help ease the huge demand for dialysis, but transplants have their own cost.

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The 12th National People's Congress holds the election for its new president at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday.

World News

From Police Chief To Political Office, Jobs Are For Sale In China

10:15pm March 15, 2013

by Louisa Lim

China's new president has vowed to crack down on corruption. One widespread practice involves paying bribes to get high-level positions in politics or the bureaucracy.

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Vladimir Putin Hobnobs With ... Steven Seagal

6:44am March 15, 2013

First, Russian President Vladimir Putin granted citizenship to French actor Gerard Depardieu. Now, Putin is hobnobbing with the actor Steven Seagal. The star of Under Siege toured a new sports facility with Putin, who used the occasion to call for reviving a Soviet-era fitness program in which kids threw javelins, learned to ski and fired guns.

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